Texas BlogWire

October 27, 2005

Congratulations to the White Sox! Chicago finally has a baseball champion. Gives me hope that maybe even the Cubs can do this someday.

Photo by Terrence Antonio James, (c) 2005 Chicago Tribune

Watching the games this post-season has reminded me how much I enjoy baseball, even after five years of barely paying attention (except for a brief, painful span two Octobers ago). I think I'm going to have to go to a game or two next year for the first time in ages. And the logical place, that park down the road in Houston, looks like a very enjoyable place to watch a game.

October 20, 2005

Alas, it's the White Sox and not the Cubs, but I'll take what I can get. Chicago baseball fans cannot be picky.

I grew up in Chicago going to Cubs games at Wrigley Field, starting back in the days of Rick Reuschel, Larry Biitner, Ivan DeJesus, and Bobby Murcer (that would be 1977 for those who may not have been paying attention). At the time it had only been 18 years since Chicago's last World Series. Of course, for the Cubs it had been 32 years even back then, but who's counting.

So for the first time since 1999, I will be watching the World Series this year.

The one good thing about it being the White Sox and not the Cubs is that if they don't pull it out, I won't be devastated. (I can't take any more 1984 or 2003 NLCSs!) Especially since a couple of my favorite players, Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell, are on the other side.

I've always like the Astros, and especially those two, ever since I lived briefly in Houston in the early 1990s. In fact the last big league game I've attended was the final game at the Astrodome, back in 1999 when the Braves eliminated the Astros in game 4 of the division series.

Next year, it may finally be time for me to head back to Houston for another game. Of course, given the dramatic success of the Astros this year, I suspect it may not be so easy to get tickets on the spur of the moment as it was back then.

Washington, DC — The National Park Service has started using a political loyalty test for picking all its top civil service positions, according to an agency directive released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Under the new order, all mid-level managers and above must also be approved by a Bush administration political appointee.

The October 11, 2005 order issued by NPS Director Fran Mainella requires that the selection criteria for all civil service management slots (Government Service grades or GS-13, 14 and 15) include the “ability to lead employees in achieving the …Secretary’s 4Cs and the President’s Management Agenda.” In addition, candidates must be screened by Park Service headquarters and “the Assistant Secretary [of Interior] for Fish, and Wildlife, and Parks,” the number three political appointee in the agency.

The order represents a complete centralization of Park Service promotion and hiring in what has traditionally been a decentralized agency. More strikingly, the order is an unprecedented political intrusion into what are supposed to be non-partisan, merit system personnel decisions.

The President’s Management Agenda includes controversial policies and proposals such as aggressive use of outsourcing to replace civil servants, reliance on “faith-based initiatives” and rollbacks of civil service rights.

How much longer are we stuck with this dictatorial group in power? More importantly, what will be the long-term damages to our democracy?

October 13, 2005

Progress on protecting the quality of the water source for a million plus south Texans?

The board of the Edwards Aquifer Authority voted Tuesday to move ahead next year with drafting rules to better protect water quality — including controversial measures that could limit the extent of development atop the recharge zone.

"You're looking at a happy face," Bexar County board member and hydrologist George Rice said after the vote on his motion to amend the board's strategic plan for next year to include development of the water quality rules.

"We haven't said anything yet about what the rules will contain, but we've said we're going to move forward with developing hazardous materials rules and impervious cover rules," said Rice, an environmentalist who has been pushing for the rules for several years.

Impervious cover refers to roofs, sidewalks, streets and driveways — any material that prevents water from filtering into the ground and being added to the aquifer.

"That's a big step, and it's a step we have to take before we can do anything else," he said of drafting the rules. "The staff will come up with a concept paper laying out their general thoughts on how we ought to proceed."

Rice would not predict how tough the proposed rules might be or how the board might vote.

A motion to draft rules regarding the storage, use and transportation of hazardous materials on the recharge zone passed without opposition, but another on impervious cover drew significant debate before it was approved 11-3.

"The impervious cover question somehow brings out the challenge to our water quality authority," said Carol Patterson, a Bexar County director who opposed drafting those rules.

She said she fears land use controls might anger some legislators.

If George Rice, a local scientist concerned with the quality of our water supply, is happy, it must be at least a decent action, though on the surface it just looks like a meaningless measure deferring action until a later date.

For some background on the politics surrounding the Edwards Aquifer, see this post from last spring.

October 12, 2005

It's an exciting time for nature-lovers in the San Antonio area. Only a few more days until Government Canyon State Natural Area opens to the public at long last. For those who would like to learn more about the place, the Express-News ran a detailed article on the new park over the weekend that includes a slide show and a nice map. Here is an excerpt:

Water is the key to understanding Government Canyon State Natural Area, one of the largest natural holdings within the boundaries of any American city. It opens to the public next Saturday.

Water first attracted humans here 10,000 years ago. It later persuaded them to stay when the landscape was an untamed and harsh backwoods, miles from the civilization of San Antonio.

And the water that seeps through porous limestone that covers much of the 8,622-acre natural area to refill the Edwards Aquifer below prompted a 12-year, $16 million effort to preserve the land from development — even as neighborhoods pressed closer and closer to its barbed-wire boundaries.

...

Government Canyon sits just outside Loop 1604 near Culebra Road, 16 miles from downtown. Visitors will find 40 miles of dirt trails to explore, many of them physically challenging. They offer the perfect setting for hiking and mountain biking. High heels and baby strollers should stay at home.

Seventeen trails zigzag the canyon. All have been cut into the rough terrain by volunteers who have worked tirelessly to prepare the park for Saturday's opening.

Camping, and perhaps horseback riding, could be permitted next year. But the overnight accommodations won't be fancy. A fire pit, tent and composting toilet will be the only touches of civilization allowed. No RVs. No showers. No electricity.

All of this is by design, to limit the impact of humans on the swath of wild land that's 10 times bigger than New York City's Central Park and eight times bigger than Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.

Overall, Government Canyon ranks fifth in the country for park or natural land within city limits, according to a list compiled by Trust for Public Land. The largest is Franklin Mountains State Park in El Paso, which measures a whopping 24,000 acres.

But unlike Franklin Mountains, Central Park or Golden Gate Park, Government Canyon isn't a park. It's a state natural area. The differences are large. Simply defined: The well-being of the land is the top priority, easily trumping recreation. Any activity judged to harm the environment will be eliminated — period.

"This is all about how rainwater gets into the aquifer," said Koepke, a lanky Ohioan who also serves as the top law enforcement officer. "And we take our role as stewards of the environment very seriously."

Hearing the place compared to urban parks like Central Park and Golden Gate Park is jarring, because Government Canyon is anything but urban. But given the sprawl that is rapidly encroaching that area, its surroundings may certainly look rather urban a few decades from now. Fortunately, the park itself never will.

October 04, 2005

Via Knight Ridder and the Miami Herald, here is example of the Bush administration's stellar management of taxpayer money:

NEW ORLEANS - Across the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast, thousands upon thousands of blue tarps are being nailed to wind-damaged roofs, a visible sign of government assistance.

...

It isn't coming cheaply. Knight Ridder has found that a lack of oversight, generous contracting deals and poor planning mean that government agencies are shelling out as much as 10 times what the temporary fix would normally cost.

The government is paying contractors an average of $2,480 for less than two hours of work to cover each damaged roof -- even though it's also giving them endless supplies of blue sheeting for free.

''It sounds to me like these people are probably making a stinking killing,'' said Mike Lowery, an estimator with Pioneer Roof Systems in Austin.

...

In normal circumstances, Lowery said, his company would charge $300 to tarp a 2,000-square-foot roof in Austin. For that same size job, the government is paying $2,980 to $3,500, or about 10 times as much, plus additional administrative fees that can't be readily calculated.

Former government contract officials and private contracting experts charge that the Army Corps neglected to negotiate better rates when it had the chance before the hurricane season began. Once the storm hit and the vast amount of destruction became obvious, they say, the Corps failed to negotiate a lower rate for contractors, who could still make decent profits because of the sheer amount of work to be done.

Taylor of the Army Corps said the Shaw contract was one of many advance deals signed in July after the government was criticized for signing lucrative deals on the fly after hurricanes ravaged Florida last year.

But the advance deal the Corps negotiated with Shaw was for the same $1.75 per square foot rate that it was criticized for last year.

Meanwhile, while the federal government's preferred contractors make a "stinking killing," the city of New Orleans, desperate and needing all the help it can get to get back on its feet, can't afford to pay its staff:

NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 4 - The mayor of this embattled city said today that there were not enough funds to meet the municipal payroll and that about half the 6,000 public employees in the workforce would have to be laid off.

...

The mayor said that the city had checked with federal and state sources of funds, local banks and other financial institutions, but that the city was unable to maintain staffing at current levels. He said that the payroll amounted to about $20 million a month, and that the cuts would save about $5 million to $8 million.

...

Governor Blanco wants the federal government to help by amending the Stafford Act to allow funds to flow to pay public employees' regular salaries, and not just emergency-related overtime.

October 03, 2005

Digby at Hullabaloo is right on the mark when it comes to analysis of Bush's Supreme Court picks:

Harriet Miers is the official machine justice, a made woman, the one whose only committment and loyalty will be to Karl Rove and George Bush.

...

[W]hat [Bush and Karl Rove] are most interested in is getting someone on the court who will not independently decide that the interests of democracy require that they vote against whatever GOP electoral schemes come down the pike. There can be no daylight on that. Miers can be guaranteed to do what is best for the GOP.

What Digby doesn't mention is that this argument applies not only to Miers, but very likely to Roberts as well, the bulk of whose career was spent in the service of the Republican party.

Of course, as we learned in December 2000, there already were 5 Supreme Court justices ready to perform this role. All that has happened now is that the reign of the machine justices has been extended by two or three more decades.

October 01, 2005

The junior Senator from my home state of Illinois, Barack Obama, has some words of wisdom for those of us on the progressive side of the political divide in this country.

There is one way, over the long haul, to guarantee the appointment of judges that are sensitive to issues of social justice, and that is to win the right to appoint them by recapturing the presidency and the Senate. And I don't believe we get there by vilifying good allies, with a lifetime record of battling for progressive causes, over one vote or position. I am convinced that, our mutual frustrations and strongly-held beliefs notwithstanding, the strategy driving much of Democratic advocacy, and the tone of much of our rhetoric, is an impediment to creating a workable progressive majority in this country.

...

My dear friend Paul Simon used to consistently win the votes of much more conservative voters in Southern Illinois because he had mastered the art of "disagreeing without being disagreeable," and they trusted him to tell the truth. Similarly, one of Paul Wellstone's greatest strengths was his ability to deliver a scathing rebuke of the Republicans without ever losing his sense of humor and affability. In fact, I would argue that the most powerful voices of change in the country, from Lincoln to King, have been those who can speak with the utmost conviction about the great issues of the day without ever belittling those who opposed them, and without denying the limits of their own perspectives.

We should all listen and take these words, and the spirit of his entire essay, to heart.